Tales of a Peacekeeper
by Cyanide Dust
Summary: The Third resolves to let Jiraiya accomplish both of his responsibilities: Keeping Konohagakure safe from harm's reach through his intricate but enormous spying network... and taking care of his godson. Six years worth of parenting can make all the difference in the world for the destined child, even if it comes with more troubles early on. [Oneshot to possible future story]


Author's Note:

\- 2/18/16 Update: Fixed some grammar structures along a few misspelled words.

* * *

Jiraiya, the legendary toad Sannin, was currently running for his dear life.

Now, let it be known that this isn't something completely out of the usual occasion. For those who knew him personally, it was a completely normal routine, and would laugh it off as a pretty funny but accurate picture of the man's type of life. Who in their dear minds wouldn't run after getting caught peeping at the women's bath residing in the famous hot springs of the Land of Fire, filled completely with nude and beautiful– while nonetheless packed with power to spare–kunoichi?

If caught glimpsing guiltily with no regards for respect, the great majority of women would pretty much beat you up until you were reduced to nothing but _pulp_. And that was fine, considering what kunoichi would do instead.

Damnation, even saying that was an understatement. Why? To make a long story short, they went for the balls.

Pray to God for mercy and forgiveness if that ever happened. Tsunade's incident was crystal clear in his mind after all these years.

However, our amusing Jiraiya wasn't running through the border of the Land of Fire because of some failed 'research' expedition, as he called them. Not at all. Unknown to everyone, he abandoned those kinds of activities in favor of other heavier priorities six years ago.

Taking care and looking after his godson, for example, was one of them.

After the horrible events transpired on the night of October 10th, where a quarter of the village burned and crumbled by the hands of none other than the evilest of beings in the universe, the _Kyūbi no Kitsune_ , The Nine Tailed Fox, where the recently formalized Yondaime Hokage–Namikaze Minato, his favorite student; the _son_ he never had–sacrificed himself to save the wielders of the Will of Fire, sealing away the incredible and malevolent force of nature inside his newborn son.

 _Uzumaki Naruto_ , the child he was carrying in his arms at the moment, shielding him from harm's reach.

The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, re-took his position as the leader of Konoha in the mist of chaos and crisis, coping with the hundreds of casualties the attack caused, tending to the thousands of injured civilians and ninja alike, reconstructing what was demolished while also struggling to keep a political balance amongst the thin but precarious line of peace, one that threatened to disappear just at any given moment.

Iwagakure hadn't overlooked their defeat in the last ninja war, and they had reasons to spare to initiate an attack as retribution. Not only that, but Konoha had gained too much power over the years after the international conflict, power that clashed against other hidden villages interests.

Jiraiya had the responsibility to look upon the security of his home through his infamous spying network, scattered across the land, in order to foresee any future attacks against it.

Nevertheless, Naruto was his responsibility too, because he passed to be his official guardian after the death of both his parents; he was the godfather, after all.

The third took a decision when confronted with the impasse: he evaluated the consequences that could be brought on if Naruto left the village with the Sannin; he evaluated the difficulties Jiraiya would have to endure with both jobs; he evaluated the risks they were taking on this bet; he evaluated if Jiraiya had what it took to do it; he evaluated the life Naruto would have outside and inside the village and finally, he evaluated if he was still sane for even contemplating the possibility of it. It was preposterous.

But in the end, he had let Jiraiya accomplish both duties.

Because he wouldn't _dare_ to face Minato and Kushina after slaving their child to the lonely life of a jinchūriki with no one to rely on.

He was the Hokage and so, he shouldn't have any favoritism for anyone. But such was the sacrifice they've made–he had seen it firsthand–that the bare idea of leaving his son to face the world unaided alongside the hate the villagers blamed ignorantly upon him, was already an _injustice_.

And so, six years later, we find Jiraiya running for both his and his godson's life, throwing himself into the fastest _Body Flickers_ of his career, just to ensure that Naruto returns safe and sound to his village. The ones that followed him, the ones that wanted to take his godson out of his hands and the ones who would suck the beast he hosted out of him, ending his short life, could be considered the devils themselves.

He met the term _'Akatsuki'_ for the first time 8 months ago, when a contact of his spying network had found out about a clandestine organization that the Earth Daimyō was currently relying on to do dirty work for a good price.

The words 'Earth' and 'Dirty work' mashed together in that sentence preoccupied him. _A lot_.

So he did his best in the following days, overheating from his efforts to find about this association that could be a threat to Konoha and its citizens.

The things he learned turned out to be more than what he bargained for. He just didn't get paid enough for this shit. Hell, anybody would complain regardless of remuneration considering what was at stake.

Turns out, Akatsuki was a subversive group that existed outside the usual system of hidden villages. The mission and purpose of said group? Peace.

Sweet! Now that was something he could agree with. He was seeking peace for the world himself!

Means of getting to said peace however? Not so sweet. Unless you think that world domination through the gathering of Tailed Beasts with the purpose of creating a weapon so powerful that no one in his right should have access to, one that could wipe out an entire country if you ever so desired, is nice and clearly justified.

Yeah, he was not believing the 'inflicting fear so as to create small periods of peace over an infinite chain of hatred' bullshit. True peace and understanding could be achieved even in this dark world. He had convinced himself of it early on. People had called him 'fool', 'idealist', 'dreamer', 'preacher of impossibilities', 'ridiculous' and so forth. Orochimaru (the bastard) had snorted in disbelief. Tsunade had laughed at his face. His comrades had just seen it as a joke.

Peace and understanding in the ninja world? They had asked to no one but themselves when confronted with the idea.

 _Not_ happening, they had concluded.

But still, he _fought_ to find an answer to the near impossible problem that _hatred_ posed.

And said answer came in the form of a child with whiskered cheeks, of icy-blue glowing eyes, of wild and untamed blond hair.

The answer came in the form of _orange_.

* * *

 _In my dreams, I saw that you became a great ninja, perverted and all. And in time, you will have a son of your own. One of mischievous blue eyes._

* * *

The child for which he had given the most of his devotion and time. The child who'd filled the hole in his heart after a live of repetitive failures in the futile search for greatness.

* * *

 _In this world of impure, the child will develop into a ninja that will bring a great change not only to the world of shinobi, but to the balance of nature itself._

* * *

A child that preferred ramen and salty ice-cream over the best of sweets. A child that loved foxes unknown to the evil one he harbored. A child innocent to the tribulations of the world.

* * *

 _A change that will bring either the greatest stability or the worst destruction. A kind the world has never seen the likes of before. This child, apparently, has been destined long since the beginnings of time with this fate._

* * *

A child so like him when he was young, but even more intelligent and cunning. A child that clearly had the looks of his father together with his mother's unnatural passion and will. He had so much of _both_.

* * *

 _In his early years, you'll be the one to guide this revolutionary through his first steps. One day, you'll be forced to make a choice. This choice will determine which of the paths he will take._

* * *

A child that made something completely new out of him. A child that made him into a better man.

* * *

 _Whenever he becomes the bringer of true harmony, or the one that dooms it to fall, you'll gain the inner peace you desperately seek with him, and you'll die happy knowing this._

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't just the bringer of peace to the world, but the bringer of inner peace to himself. He would gladly give his life to protect him regretting nothing.

Jiraiya learned in those 6 years how to handle diapers while working in the shadows, where anyone could've been lurking to assassinate him; he learned to teach with the utmost perfection; he learned to be more patient than ever; he learned how to discern what children wanted and didn't want… in short, he learned to become a parent.

He understood now the feelings Tsunade had for his little brother Nawaki when he was still alive, and could only shudder in fear–inwardly shake with terror–how it must have felt like when announced with the news of his death.

He wasn't going to find out anytime soon. He had made sure of it.

One doesn't bring a newborn child out of the village to raise amongst every possible threat without making what the Jōnin Commander considered 'the most _complete_ list of safety measures'.

As such, when Akatsuki got a trail of him, he had been ready. Implanting rumors inside the neighborhoods of towns and allowing himself some breathing space, he managed to outmaneuver the infamous explosive ninja, _Deidara_ , together with his puppeteer partner, _Sasori_ of the Red Sand.

His plan was to travel alongside the northern borders of the Land of Wind, preserving the lowest of profiles with the objective to reach the south-west portion of the Land of Fire though Kawa no Kuni, the Land of Rivers, with the help of some contacts in the area.

The plan had been perfect. He just wasn't expecting the supposedly leader of the infamous organization to go after the Kyūbi himself.

Moreover, he wasn't expecting said leader to be Yahiko, his long thought-to-be-dead student, with the legendary Rinnengan in his eyes.

After a short skirmish where he had thrown himself into Sage Mode to make the best of it, he concluded 5 things:

First: the Rinnengan was broken as shit, even more than he remembered. That gravity push & pull was outrageously overpowered.

Second: This wasn't Yahiko. There was something wrong with him and for the love of Kami, he couldn't figure out what it was.

Third: _Pain_ , as this supposed Yahiko called himself, was linked to another chakra source far away. Thanks to the natural energy gift from being a sage, he was able to pinpoint said source when stabbed with the suspicious dark rods that protruded from his body. Whatever its purpose or reason was, he didn't know.

Fourth: Nagato was _dead_ or could as well be involved in all this mess.

Fifth: With 3 Kage-level ninjas following him, there was little he could do to fight back with the boy in his arms.

He cursed the world, for having this child stripped from his relatives and bonds so early in his life. He cursed Akatsuki for what they were responsible for. He cursed Iwagakure and all of the hidden villages that employed them. He cursed each and every S-Rank Nukenin that composed and worked for this damnable organization. He cursed the Ninja System for being what it was, because thanks to it, this whole thing came to be. He cursed humans for their ignorance. But most of all, he cursed himself, for allowing such threat to grow in the darkness unattended.

It seemed it was time for him to make the world's changing decision. The one that chilled your balls and made you cry, imploring for why such responsibility had been placed on you to bear in the first place.

Let it be said that he never _once_ considered running away.

He stilled through the feeling of fear, securing the child on his arms with more force than ever while launching into another Body Flicker, his enemies keeping up numerous yards behind him.

The Toad Sage never failed to deliver his performance, after all.


End file.
